Artist
ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN
PAOLO TOFANI
Paolo Tofani, guitarist extraordinaire from Florence and a member of Area , also released some records for Cramps as Electric Frankenstein and under his real name.
He started his professional career in the early 60's with Samurai, also playing abroad with them, then he joined I Califfi, leaving them probably around the end of 1970 to move to London, where he played as a solo artist and recorded some tracks in his home studio. He was then offered to join Area and relocated to Italy in 1973.
The chance to release a solo album came in 1975, when Cramps offered him to issue an LP with his London 1971 recordings under the name Electric Frankenstein. The LP, a guitar extravaganza with long spacey guitar solos by Tofani and all the instruments played by himself, the album will appeal to acid-psych lovers rather than prog fans. Mostly instrumental with vocal parts in English, the album contained some reworkings of his previous works with I Califfi and also had two tracks released as a single.
Tofani also released another solo album in 1977, Indicazioni,
a more experimental work based on guitar with large use of electronics, before entering a Hare Krishna community. With another Krishna devotee Claudio
Rocchi, he has released an album in 1980, Un gusto superiore, on the
Iskcon label.
The Complete Florence/London sessions 1966/73 CD, issued in 2007, contains rare and unreleased recordings by Tofani, starting with some 1966 songs (issued by the Net label under the nickname Danny), and including then his later home-studio tapes from Florence and London.
| ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN LP |
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| Electric Frankenstein (What me worry?) | Cramps (CRSLP 2001) | 1975 | single cover |
| Cramps (5202 001) | 1978 | as above | |
| Akarma (AK 1005) | 2000 | as above | |
CD |
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| Electric Frankenstein (What me worry?) | Cramps (CRSCD 015) | 1991 | reissue of 1975 album |
| Akarma (AK 1005) | 2000 | as above | |
| Edel (CRA 0139092) | 2002 | as above - digipack cover | |
SINGLES (with picture sleeve) |
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| The
land of the magic wizard Moon walk |
Cramps (CRSNP 1702) | 1975 | both tracks from Electric Frankenstein |
| PAOLO TOFANI LP |
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| Indicazioni | Cramps (CRSLP 6208) | 1977 | single cover with inner |
| Rock and roll exhibition | Cramps (5205 901) | 1979 | with Mauro Pagani and Demetrio Stratos - single cover with inner |
| Akarma (AK 1016) | 2001 | as above | |
CD |
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| Rock and roll exhibition | Cramps (CRSCD 010) | 1994 | reissue of 1979 album - now deleted |
| Akarma (AK 1016) | 1999 | as above with mini gatefold cover | |
| The complete Florence/London sessions 1966/73 | Beat.it (BT 302) | 2007 | compilation of unreleased recordings made between 1966 and 1973 |
Rather common until mid 90's, Electric Frankenstein album
has recently become expensive and less easy to find.
It has a single cover and two different issues of the Cramps LP exist, with
different numbers, see above for details.
No counterfeits exist, nor foreign issues.
The 2007 CD The complete Florence/London sessions, credited to "Paolo Tofani a.k.a. Electric Frankenstein", contains 19 unreleased recordings made, as the title suggests, in Italy and England between 1966 and 1973, including some tracks from the Electric Frankenstein album period.
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Electric Frankenstein - LP |
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Electric FrankensteinThe land of the magic wizard - 7" single cover |
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Paolo Tofani/Indicazioni - LP |
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| Paolo Tofani/The complete Florence-London sessions 1966-1973 - CD |
Paolo Tofani has a website which includes information on his past musical career, www.paolotofani.com and a MySpace page, www.myspace.com/tofanipaolo
